BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Selling, stansbrickstore writes:

Hi everyone, I hope you’re having a nice start to the weekend.

Late last night I received a (small) order for some parts. I quickly sent an
invoice over and the buyer paid (via PayPal). This morning the buyer has messaged
me asking if it would be possible to add something to the order. I know it’s
possible to add items to an order, but I’ve never done it before, and I don’t
know how it would work with the order already being paid. What is the best course
of action?
I can think of two options, either the buyer sends a second order and I don’t
add shipping fees and send the two orders together. Or could I refund the buyer
and then they add the new items and pay again. If I do this second option will
either of us lose from PayPal/BrickLink fees?

Many thanks for reading, Stan.

Buyers can add items to open orders simply by adding the items they want and
checking out again as long as the order is not marked Packed or Paid I believe.

Once paid, the best option is to let them place a new order and combine it yourself.
You will be out out the Paypal fees for the second order, but that's the
price of doing business. Be sure to provide them with your store password to
bypass your minimum buy if you have one.

I wish this information was more available to buyers. I get so many requests
to cancel because 'I forgot to add one part' from buyers who are unaware
of this. They mistakenly think they need to start all over!

Good luck,
Jen

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 17, 2021 09:35

Subject:

Re: 48723 and 68888 are not the same mold?

Viewed:

34 times

Topic:

Catalog Requests

In Catalog Requests, pgremeau writes:

Well, I just had an order where I ordered the new type and got both types mixed.
When I told them, the seller replied that BL says these are the same molds so
they don't need to differentiate. And added the note to these pieces:
"May be part #48723 or #68888 or a mix PER TERMS WE DO NOT DIFFERENTIATE MOLDS"

Many sellers state on their splash pages or in their store terms that they
do not differentiate between similar molds. This is entirely up to the seller
and has nothing to do with the BL catalog or policies.

Jen

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 16, 2021 14:51

Subject:

Re: Retaining Inventory

Viewed:

32 times

Topic:

Inventories

In Inventories, sweettiara27 writes:

I have been trying to figure out how to retain my pieces in my inventory when
it is sold out, that way I don't have to keep looking it up to put it back
into inventory. Can anyone help?

There is a checkbox to Retain every time you upload any part.

There is a check box to Retain on every item you have listed. Look on your My
Inventory detail pages along the right side.

There is also a checkbox to Retain items in inventory after items are sold out:
near the bottom of the My Inventory page.

Jen

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 16, 2021 11:39

Subject:

Re: How long is long enough?

Viewed:

67 times

Topic:

Problem Order

In Problem Order, Matt79 writes:

In Problem Order, Ellum writes:

If time and convenience are a factor, it is in your best interest to try and
buy from established stores with good reputations.

Jen

When do consider a store to be established?

They have high feedback (over 500) and it is listed as being a store.

That is a very high feedback for sure, but BL combines buying and selling feedback.
You can see what's what on their feedback page. There are also no grand qualifications
for being a store, you just sign up and prove your identity. I guess I am just
saying that you really need to check a place out before you buy. It sounds like
you got unlucky with this one.

7-14 days does seem excessive after a month has already gone by. You should communicate
with them firmly but politely that you expect a refund at this point.

Sorry you had a bad experience!
Jen

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 16, 2021 11:31

Subject:

Re: How long is long enough?

Viewed:

64 times

Topic:

Problem Order

In Problem Order, Ellum writes:

If time and convenience are a factor, it is in your best interest to try and
buy from established stores with good reputations.

Jen

When do consider a store to be established?

I would consider how long they have been a seller, and then gauge their store
volume by when and how often they have received and given feedback. It is certainly
possible to become established within a few months I would say.

Of course, not all established sellers are professional either, but you can certainly
tell a lot about them by reading their terms, their feedback, and the feedback
they have left for others.

The experience the OP described seemed like a lot of rookie mistakes. How is
someone getting the zipcode wrong? They are still hand-writing addresses on packages
and then standing in line at the post office? Then typing in the tracking number
from the receipt? It's not definitive, but I would guess it is an inexperienced
seller.

I don't mind buying from hobby sellers or even new sellers if I am not in
a hurry, but the OP was concerned about the transactions affecting their business,
so...

Jen

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 16, 2021 10:42

Subject:

Re: How long is long enough?

Viewed:

67 times

Topic:

Problem Order

In Problem Order, Matt79 writes:

I'm new to bricklink. I run an ebay store and ordered to complete sets to
resell. Ordered a month back, ordered never arrived. Turns out seller put wrong
zipcode for a town 30 mins away. Drove to that post office and the 2 between
hoping they had this order because these are taking up space on my seller table
and costing time and money. Contacted seller and he needs another 7-14 days to
investigate before refunding or replacement order with whatever pieces he still
has in stock. He also offered a free minifigure under a certain amount but this
is not a collecting hobby for me. It's business. This is after sent me wrong
tracking info the first time. Being in customer service I don't understand
making the customer wait for refund but is bricklink different? This is only
my second order and already not sure I will use this website again. Any advice
or wisdom would be appreciated.

All sellers on BL are not created equal, so I guess my first question would be
what was the feedback and experience of the seller you ordered from? There are
lots of hobbyists on here, but you can usually sus them out from feedback and
store terms.

If time and convenience are a factor, it is in your best interest to try and
buy from established stores with good reputations.

Jen

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 15, 2021 13:15

Subject:

Re: Placing an order without using auto checkout.

Viewed:

37 times

Topic:

In Help, SylvainLS writes:

In Help, jennnifer writes:

[…]
I have accepted a sale from a repeat customer who couldn't get Paypal Onsite
to work for whatever reason and just sent the payment directly. I just believe
that it's bad service and bad business from BrickLink to not offer people
options just because it's not easy. The only penalty I got was that I cannot
mark the order Shipped because of BL's infantile new payment status rules.
So, the order will be in my notifications for 6 months or so I guess! I am happy
to forward BrickLink the tax money from this sale as soon as they are organized
and professional enough to receive it.

Jen

I’m not a lawyer, I’m not an accountant, but I believe you just committed tax
fraud: you collected money that you say is taxes but it can’t be taxes because
you don’t have the right to collect taxes.
At the minimum, the money should be consigned with an indenpendant entity, it
should not stay on your own accounts.

Yes, I am definitely guilty of something, but I doubt it is fraud. BrickLink
was told this would be a problem, chose to ignore it, and then refused to adjust
to all the reported issues regarding it, leaving us with their bad solution.
So, I have like $2 of their money or who-evers's money and am happy to pay
it wherever it needs to go.

Not everyone wants to (or can) use an onsite third-party payment method. I think
we should be able to accept money orders if we choose. I am sticking with my
principles here and not hiding my actions in any way. I want to pay this money
where it needs to go. They are not accepting it.

Jen

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 15, 2021 13:06

Subject:

Re: Placing an order without using auto checkout.

Viewed:

36 times

Topic:

In Help, peregrinator writes:

In Help, jennnifer writes:

I have accepted a sale from a repeat customer who couldn't get Paypal Onsite
to work for whatever reason and just sent the payment directly. I just believe
that it's bad service and bad business from BrickLink to not offer people
options just because it's not easy. The only penalty I got was that I cannot
mark the order Shipped because of BL's infantile new payment status rules.
So, the order will be in my notifications for 6 months or so I guess! I am happy
to forward BrickLink the tax money from this sale as soon as they are organized
and professional enough to receive it.

I think you can mark it as Packed, then (perhaps after a wait of a few days?)
mark it as Paid (this is still only the order status, not the payment status!),
then Shipped

Nifty! I was able to mark it Paid, then Completed. Thank you!

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 15, 2021 12:10

Subject:

Re: Placing an order without using auto checkout.

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Help, ihave36paws writes:

Thank you one and all. I never thought of that.

He is very insistent that we can do it without PayPal and skipping BlickLink
he is having a hard time excepting that I will not sell to him without placing
an actual order. I'm not jeopardizing loosing my store for a $30.00 order.
Or any order as far as that goes.

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Jul 15, 2021 10:06

Subject:

Re: Placing an order without using auto checkout.

Viewed:

30 times

Topic: